


Valentione's Day Across Eorzea

by StariWolfe



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Bad Cooking, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Surprises, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Valentione's Day (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29366853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StariWolfe/pseuds/StariWolfe
Summary: A collection of three Warriors of Light and what their lovers (or their secret loves) do for Valentione's in Eorzea.
Relationships: Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light, Hien Rijin/Warrior of Light, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Warrior of Light/Estinien Wyrmblood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Valentione's Day Across Eorzea

**Author's Note:**

> come get y'all's fluff

Estinien was incredibly thankful that Lemon had gotten a call that took her out of the house that day, but he was also desperately wishing for his lovers’ counsel right now.

He had been planning on cooking Lemon a dinner for Valentione’s since she was the one who usually cooked for both of them, but his endeavors were quickly going downhill. The chocolate he was melting had burned (note to himself, don’t put it directly on the heat), the pastry he’d rolled had floury lumps throughout it, and even the simple sandwich he’d tried to make as practice was absolutely pathetic. There was flour all over the kitchen and himself, which made him finally understand why Lemon always wore an apron when she cooked. He wasn’t even sure how he’d set foot in the kitchen and not burst into flames with how this was going. How was he going to do this without help?

Reluctantly, he reached to his linkshell and called the _other_ master chef he knew, hoping she’d pick up in the cafe rush of Valentione’s. Thankfully, she did.

“Hello? This is a bad time, can I call whoever this is back?”

“Vesper, it’s Estinien, and no. I’m in need of some help, desperately.” The rogue on the other end of the phone sighed, sounding exhausted.

“Love troubles? Oh, sorry, been askin’ that a lot today, force of habit. What’s wrong?”

“Cooking, that’s what’s wrong! How in the hells do you and Lemon make this look so easy?”

“...Cookin’ for Lem, eh? That’s sweet o’ ya. Well, I’ll do what I can, but I can’t come there. Food rush and all that, y’know?”

“Aye, aye, just give me instructions.”

“Alright, I can’t walk you through a recipe, but I can give you advice while you work. Get started on your next recipe and tell me what you’re doing!”

Estinien did just that, walking Vesper through what he was doing in the kitchen. Her advice did help him a bit, but it was clear that her advice alone would not a dinner make. He gazed at his attempt at soup, which looked way too solid to be soup. It was more like a chunk.

“...Estinien, I have to go, but I hope things work out, mate.”

“If all else fails, I’m taking her to Limsa for dinner.”

“Good plan. See ya later.”

The dragoon sighed as Vesper hung up on the other end and decided to try pasta next. Hopefully Lemon was having a better time than he was.

Thankfully, Lemon was having an absolute ball.

The call had been from Vesper, saying that she had stopped in Gridania for the festivities but they needed some assistance, and would Lemon like to help since she couldn’t? And, naturally, Lemon said yes.

The Valentione’s decorations were absolutely lovely, and feeling love in the air was heavenly! The blue-haired festival assistant who accepted her help had assigned her to help in the baking of cookies for the joint event between Valentione’s Day and Little Ladies Day, since Lemon was a master culinarian. She’d overheard from the other cooks that the majority of the cookies were for the children’s hospital in Ul’dah, so the Au Ra made certain to make every batch of cookies with as much love as she could.

...Maybe she would be able to take some to Estinien when she was done. How was he getting on without her? She decided to pick something up on the way home for their Valentione’s time.

Estinien was beginning to think that maybe he should have ordered a feast from Bismark’s instead of trying to cook.

His pasta had gone just as awful as everything else. Apparently, ‘throwing it at a wall to see if it sticks’ was mostly just an expression, not an actual technique to see if it was cooked (not that it had cooked properly, anyway). Another attempt at a pastry had happened, but when the elezen had gotten it out of the oven, it was burnt to a crisp. He was finally looking at her various recipe books to follow instructions on how to make something simple, but he found the wording confusing. A teaspoon of sugar? Wouldn’t a regular spoon work fine? And how could he make this in time before Lemon-

“I’m home!”

-Got home. Shite.

“...Estinien, what happened? Did a bag of flour fall and explode?...And why do you have soot on your face?” Lemon looked around with confusion at her mess of a kitchen, throwing a bag of who-knew-what on the table in front of the counter. Estinien was thankful his face was covered in flour and soot, since he felt his cheeks heat up at his various failures.

“...’Tis not important. If you are willing, I’d like to take you to Bismark’s for our Valentione’s date. I’ll clean this up later.” The dragoon would rather deflect his love’s attention away from his pitiful attempts at cooking and remove the evidence after their romantic night.

But apparently, Lemon could see right through him.

“...Est, were you trying to cook for me? For Valentione’s?” 

“And if I was?” He couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes at that question, so he settled on staring at the collection of cookbooks on her shelf. He was taken aback when the tiny Au Ra wrapped her arms around him in a sweet, yet tight, embrace.

“That is the sweetest thing I’ve seen all day! And trust me, I’ve seen a _lot_ of incredibly sweet things today! And I got some cookies from the event that we can eat! Twelve, I love you so much.”

Estinien couldn’t stop the giant smile that sprang to his face at the sight of his love snuggling him even though he was covered in soot and flour. Dusting the flour off of his arms as best he could, he returned the gesture.

“I love you, too. I thank the Fury every day we’re together.” Pulling away slightly, he brought their lips together. No kiss they’d ever shared before had been so sweet, and he didn’t know if that was the Valentione’s effect or the sugar on his lips. The two parted and rested their foreheads on each other. “Let’s head to Bismark’s before they close, aye?”

\---

Ellywen was on her way to the Doman Enclave.

Her rucksack was absolutely bulging with the various treats and favors that she had bought from a lovely Valentione’s assistant in Gridania before making her way to Hingashi to visit her Far Eastern friends. Her first stop was in Kugane to see if they had decorations there, only to find that the Far East was not as familiar as Eorzea. The hyuran woman found herself feeling slightly disappointed, as she had been excited to see the Far Eastern twist on the romantic decorations, but a revelation completely swept the sadness from her.

If Kugane, a hub of trade and foreign relations didn’t celebrate Valentione's day that much, then it was extremely likely that Doma, and therefore her love Hien, didn’t know much about it either.

She’d then made it her mission to give her lover the best Valentione’s day he’d ever had, and maybe even the first he’d had. 

A huge smile graced her lips as she marched towards the docks to cross the Ruby Sea. This was going to be a great day.

Unbeknownst to Ellywen, Hien _did_ know about Valentione’s day, and was in the middle of preparing a celebration for himself and Ellywen at the Kiekan.

He’d overheard Vesper talking about her plans for Valentione’s day (working at her library cafe for couples who wanted cute library dates) and decided to do a bit of research into the topic. Upon finding that it was a holiday focused mostly around romance and couples, Hien made the decision to surprise Ellywen with a Valentione’s date for himself and his love.

And so the interior of the Kiekan had been decorated from top to bottom in Valentione’s flair. He’d used his connections to make contact with the event leaders in Gridania, and the assistant he spoke with was more than happy to send materials his way after he explained his story (embarrassingly, she’d figured out who he was, most likely through context clues. That had been fun to explain). There was even a cake cooking in the kitchens, and once it was done he’d call Elly on the linkshell and-

“Lord Hien!” The King of Doma startled a bit as Yugiri ran into the room. She’d been instrumental in setting everything up and procuring the decorations and materials, so why was she suddenly on edge? “Ellywen is in Namai, and she’s making her way here! She’s going to be early!”

Ah. That explained it.

“Well, that just means I get to see her earlier and spend even more time with her. Do you mind escorting her?” A nod was the only response from Yugiri before she ran back out of the room and out of the Kiekan. Hien took a moment to think. “Well, the cake may be a bit late, but at least it will be warm for her.”

Ellywen was surprised to see Yugiri on her way to the enclave and even happier to have her company on the rest of her way.

The enclave looked so much better after the restoration, and she remembered fondly the moments alone that she and Hien had shared here while working on the various projects. Nervousness welled in her stomach as she and Yugiri neared the Kiekan; would Hien enjoy her surprise? Or would he think it was just a silly little holiday?

Yugiri left her at the entrance to the Kiekan, giving her permission to enter after telling her Hien was inside. The ninja walked to the north, apparently heading to the crop fields in that part of the town. Ellywen gathered her courage and opened the door after knocking, and what awaited her inside was something she hadn’t even begun to imagine.

The inside of the Kiekan was gorgeous on a normal day, but the Valentione’s decorations that littered the walls and floors complemented it in a glorious way. Elly walked into the room as if in a trance, wondering if she was dreaming, when a voice startled her out of her thoughts.

“I take it you like the decorations?” Facing right, she found that Hien had walked up beside her. “I hope you approve. I’m not well versed in Valentione’s traditions, but Yugiri, the others, and myself did our best. You came earlier than I expected, however. There’s still a cake that isn’t ready yet.”

“Hien…” Ellywen didn’t give him a chance to react before she threw her arms around his neck, reveling in his laugh that rumbled in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. “This is amazing! The people in Kugane told me that they didn’t know much about Valentione’s day, and I thought you wouldn’t know about it either, so how did you…?”

“I heard about it and did a bit of research. I wanted to surprise you.” A blush came to her face as he kissed her forehead. She pulled back a bit to face him.

“Consider that a success! I’m...by the Twelve, this is incredible. Oh, that reminds me!” Breaking out of the embrace for a moment, she swung her bag around and opened it to show him the contents: sweets and treats and various favors from the festival. “I wanted to surprise you, too, so I brought as much as I could carry from Gridania! I hope you like these as much as I do.” Her blush deepened as he chuckled and got even _worse_ as he pulled her back in, his face barely an ilm from hers.

“If you enjoy them with me, they’ll be the best treats I’ve ever had.” A sigh of deep satisfaction came from Ellywen as he closed the distance between them, kissing her slow and sweet. She nearly chased his lips once they parted before Hien began talking. “Let’s go to the kitchens; the cake will be done soon enough.”

\---

Vesper walked through the door of her home exhausted out of her mind.

“Well, well! Is Cupid’s little helper done with her matchmaking?” She sent a glare towards Altair, who she’d employed to work at her library cafe while she was gone. Contrary to what she had told Hien and Estinien, she had actually been in Gridania that day, helping the event move along.

“Put a cork in it. And where’s Raha? He came with you, aye?” Tossing her minstrel's glasses on a table and placing her violin carefully on the counter of the cafe, Vesper leaned against the wall of the staircase leading down to her living area.

“He did, he’s downstairs fetching something. So, how was your day? Or would you like to bathe and shower before telling me?”

“A bath and change of clothes sounds lovely. I’ll tell both you an’ Raha afterwards, if you’ll stick around that long.”

“Of course! I know we’d both like to hear about the various things that _you’ve_ heard today.” Vesper ruffled his hair before heading down the stairs, stopping briefly to give G’raha a hug. Throwing off her bard’s attire, she quickly got a change of clothes before heading into her bathing room and sinking into the warm water of her bath.

Today had been an adventure. A fun adventure, but an adventure nonetheless. She was absolutely floored that neither of her friends had recognized her in Gridania, as she was the one who told Lemon to help with the baking and had given Ellywen her supplies for heading to Doma. Then again, she knew exactly how effective it was to hide your eyes behind some shades and adjust your accent _just_ enough. The addition of traditional bardic attire and making her hair less scruffy with the aforementioned things worked wonders, and it allowed her to help with her friends’ romantic endeavors while technically being on official business.

A roguish smile came to her face. Most of her plans had gone swimmingly, the one hangup being that Estinien was a terrible cook. Even then, his backup plan was a solid idea, and Lemon would be touched at his thoughtfulness. Vesper had intentionally called Lemon away to help with the festival because she knew Estinien wanted to surprise her. She had also been the one who mentioned Valentione's to Hien, knowing he’d get curious and look into it. Vesper was even the one who had taken Hien’s call when he was asking for decorations, and naturally, she made sure the Lord of Doma had everything he needed to make Ellywen’s first Doman Valentione’s day a memorable one.

Not to mention, Altair and G’raha were almost about to be recruited for some unimportant business, taking them away from each other on Valentione’s, but she was able to get them out of it by having them take care of the cafe while she went to help the event. So her cafe was covered _and_ the two mi’qote could spend the day together, and hopefully, they’d get some time together during the night as well.

A happy sigh came forth from her lungs. She was over the moon that she could help her friends like this.

After her brief relaxation and scrubbing herself down, the rogue got out of the tub and dried off, changing into an Ala Mhigan gown, which was her first choice for comfy clothing. She walked back up the stairs and found her two friends reading some books at one of the tables.

“All th’ customers gone? Are we good to close?” She hopped up and sat on the countertop, grabbing a small pastry from the stand near her.

“We’ve gotten everything closed up already!” G’raha was the one who spoke up first, and Vesper was delighted to find that he seemed full of energy. “Altair and I might have to skip on the stories for now, however, as we’re planning on heading back to the Rising Stones soon.”

“No worries, that just means I get t’ tell th’ stories all over again. Have ya got plans for th’ evenin’?”

“I have a _lot_ of plans for the evening.” Vesper couldn’t help but giggle at the blush that crossed G’raha’s face at Altair’s declaration. These two kitties were too damn cute. “Speaking of plans, someone came by who wanted to see you, but since you were out, I told him make plans to come back later this evening. I called him when you were in the bath and he should be here soon.”

...A visitor asking for her?

“Who in the world…” What the hell did that mean? She dearly hoped her friend wasn’t messing with her.

“Don’t worry, there’s no prank.” Fuck. She forgot Altair knew her better than anyone else, and that he could apparently read minds. “He’s a good friend of yours, and I believe he’ll be bearing gifts. Now then,” Altair grabbed G’raha’s hand as they stood. “We’ll be off. Have fun and enjoy your company, yeah?”

“Sure thing. Be safe out there, you two.” She almost walked down the stairs again as they left, but before she did, Altair called out to her.

“Hey, your visitor is here! I’m leaving the door open for him!” G’raha was already outside and talking to someone it sounded like, and Altair was quick to follow.

“That’s fine!” She called back to him and went to start her coffee maker. If she was going to have a guest, she might as well start something to drink. Who in the world would be coming here to visit this late?

“Ah, there you are, Vesper!”

...The voice told her that it was Aymeric.

“Aymeric! Good to see ya, mate! Sorry I was out earlier!” Vesper leapt over the counter to give her tall friend a hug, elated to see him (especially on Valentione’s). “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expectin’ ya t’ stop by today!” His laughter reverberated through her body as he squeezed her once before letting go.

“From Altair and G’raha’s reactions, they did not expect me either. But they kindly told me about what you were doing and when they thought you would be back. I hope I am not intruding, my friend, but I thought you might like some company today.” His body language told her he was a bit nervous, and she gazed at him softly following his words.

“As if you’re ever intrudin’. You’re always welcome here, don’t forget that. Now then, head downstairs t’ th’ couch and I’ll fetch us some sweets an’ coffee for us t’ snack on. Oh, an’ if you don’t mind, grab us some mugs from th’ kitchen. I’ve some good stories t’ share tonight.” He gave her a nod as he worked his way around the counter and walked downstairs. Vesper took a moment to calm her racing heart before grabbing a few spare treats and the coffee kettle and heading down herself. Once she placed the various foods on the table in front of her huge couch and placed the now-empty kettle on the kitchen counter, she leapt over the back of the couches to sit beside Aymeric, who was reaching into his bag.

“Once we are done with the coffee,” He pulled out a bottle of wine, an expensive looking one at that. “I brought some wine for us to share, one of my personal favorites.”

“Oh, bless, you know me so well. So, what story would you like to hear first? There was a shite-ton of folks lookin’ for help with love today, and plenty of stories came outta that. Or, I could tell you about our friends, like Estinien’s adventures in cookin’.” She missed Aymeric looking at her fondly, almost as if he felt something for her.

“Tell me your favorite.”

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to see Vesper's Library Cafe, it's Ward 4, plot 9 in the Lavender Beds!


End file.
